American is new Mr Olympia

BODYBUILDING has a new man of iron. The new king of muscle is American Jay Cutler.

A capacity crowd at the Orleans Arena in Las Vegas recently bore witness to history, but it was not the history many had expected. Ronnie Coleman, going for his record-breaking ninth Sandow trophy, instead lost to Cutler, a four-time second-placed finisher, by a convincing margin by bodybuilding standards, 22 to 38 (lowest score wins).

Cutler won all four rounds of the prestigious Mr Olympia.

The defending champion did not go down without a fight. In arguably the best posing routine ever seen on an Olympia stage, Coleman had world-famous boxing announcer Bruce Buffer step out on stage to announce him – he then came down through the crowd to a raucous ovation.

After ducking backstage, a few moments later he reappeared in a Moses costume, long white beard and all.

But in the end, a slightly better physique beat the better showman on this night, as Cutler's extra ten pounds of size and sharp improvements finally put him over the top.

Coleman, a 42-year-old Texas police officer, scaled mount Olympia eight successive years, 1998 to 2005, and was seeking to surpass the achievement of fellow American Lee Haney, who ruled the Olympia from 1984-91.

Cutler has quickly asserted his new dominance of the sport by going on to slice Coleman at the Austrian and Roman Grand Prix contests.

Triinidad and Tobago's Darrem Charles, who once again took a crack at the top ten, had to settle for 14th.